Mae Kail.
Portraits Of Tracy couldn’t have gone viral at a better time.
In 2023, her Beach House-sampling rap rider “The Party” was racking up millions of streams right as she got kicked out of her family’s home due to her burgeoning identity as a trans woman.
Money from “The Party” and her first projects, namely 2023’s genre-bending rap epic Drive Home, served as a literal lifeline during this tumultuous period. “If I didn't have any money to live in a hotel or have food to eat, I probably would have died,” Tracy tells The FADER over coffee in Los Angeles. In 2024, she left to L.A., leaving Louisiana behind to pursue a career in music.
After a period of settling into SoCal. life and a exploring her love for ‘60s-era rock, Portraits Of Tracy is back with an audacious new EP: Q: From Where Do Our Primal Instincts Originate A: MTV! (out Friday, July 24).
Her previous music featured elaborate storytelling, all told via agile bars. It also featured ambitious, orchestral production reminiscent of early-era Kanye, of whom she admits her early music was “heavily derivative.” Now singing and doing all production herself, her new music sounds like the madcap creations of an old soul who’s gifted with technological prowess. The new EP is part-Riot Grrrl wreckage, part-Scooby Doo chase soundtrack with Farfisa organ and chord changes galore.
Beneath the dense instrumentation there’s an undeniable heart, even as it butts up against her smirking sensibilities. On project-standout, “This Song May Or May Not Be About An Alt-Right Influencer” she gives a musical middle finger to a neo-Nazi creator who she discovered was listening to her music (“You sit, now upon your throne / While we yearn for the day we can throw the dogs your bones”). Its chorus, though, is soaring, delicate, and strangely moving. The emotional mishmash can also be heard on “Caught In A Jam," an organ-led ditty that’s a cinematic play-by-play of a caper/nightmare.
The FADER caught up with the prolific young auteur in-person in Los Angeles to talk about growing up in the Deep South, making art through personal instability, and her retro soul.
Mae Kail.
The FADER: What was your world like in Louisiana, and how did you start making music as a kid?
Portraits of Tracy: It was interesting, to say the least. I definitely couldn't express myself in the way that I wanted to and how I am now. Sometimes I miss [Louisianna], sometimes it's like I don't even want to think about it. In terms of my work, [there’s an] amount of soul in my shit … I can't fake being from the Deep South.
How did you begin making music on a computer?
That was because of my cousin. He was a rapper. Wasn't the best at it, but his heart was in it [Laughs] and I saw that. And I also saw what he was using: Audacity, FL Studio, GarageBand. I just started off on GarageBand on the phone. Then I got on GarageBand on the Mac and then FL Studio on the laptop.
My life in the Deep South was kind of shit. I was house to house, so I was producing on phones, FL mobile, anything I could use on my phone. I’m not proud of it, but I would take school laptops and I'd put them in my backpack. I'd just stash one or two of them, put it in my backpack, go home, reset it, and install FL Studio on it. That's how I made Regardless,, The Misadvice of Junie, and like 90% of Drive Home. And then I returned the computer at the end of the year.
Those are wildly ambitious albums to make on a computer that’s not your own. How did you manage to get it all done?
When you gotta get it out, you gotta get it out. I produced songs like “Aeternum” and “The Party” in the back of my entrepreneurship class. I used to put an earbud through the sleeve of my hoodie and I'd be making music in the back.
When I was working on my first two [albums], I was supposed to be grounded for like 90% of it. My family was heavy on me being a scholar. I was bringing home Cs because my heart was in music. My family would just take everything away from me because of it. But my room was upstairs, so I would just turn on everything relating to water so they couldn’t hear me in my room recording.
A lot of people discovered you off of “The Party” which went super viral. How did you go from making music in high school off a school laptop to having a song with 10s of millions of streams?
It was really me meeting my manager, honestly. After I put out my second project, The Misadvice of Junie, he was just a really big fan. I released that in 2021. Kanye already had the notoriety of being a huge shithead. My music was extremely derivative of his sound at the time. I remember hearing a lot of sentiments around that time [about my music] like, It's like Kanye or Chris Brown, you can listen to it without feeling guilty.
[My manager] heard my ear for pop music and he's proven to be like family. He helped me out in so many rough periods of my life. When I was getting thrown out by my grandparents, he was the only adult who really fought for me in that situation.
I know you were dealing with some housing instability and some deep family stuff throughout going viral. What was going viral amidst that like?
It couldn't have happened at a better time. If I didn't have any money to live in a hotel or have food to eat, I probably would have died. When [streams] come in a certain amount, you can get a couple of meals.
What was moving to L.A. like?
The plan was we're just going to grind and do sessions, but I wasn't mentally in the best place moving out here after all that. I basically got exiled from my family for coming out. It weighed on my mind a lot when I first moved out here, and I isolated for a year or so making music.
Now, I feel more confident in my ability to express myself as an artist in general. I definitely couldn't have said that for all this time. I took the time to hone in on my musicianship and it's helped out my songwriting process so much. I'm playing everything on my songs. I mixed and mastered it. I have a Shure mic, an electronic drum kit, yeah, a MIDI piano, a PJ Bass. I just get by with that really, and my Mac.
The new project has such a unique mix of genres and sounds. How did you land on this sound?
When I moved out here, I got so into The Beach Boys and Stereolab. That shit just changed my world, to put it lightly, bro. There's a lot of spacey psych influence in it now. I mean, it always was in there because of my obsession with Beach House and Cocteau Twins, but now it's like, Oh, it's clear this bitch thinks it's the '60s. She likes Farfisa organs.
I’m so taken by this new song “This Song May Or May Not Be About An Alt-Right Influencer.” What’s the story behind it?
It came about kind of in a tongue-in-cheek way. I found out that this well-known neo-Nazi had shared their playlist in a private chat with other right-wing influencers. A bunch of my songs were on it.
Do you know how they found your music?
It's the internet, most definitely. I can't stop where my shit spreads. It's just jarring how you can advocate for the erasure of a group of people, but at the same time enjoy their music. My friend was like, "You should write a song about how much you want him to die." And I was like, "Okay!"
What’s the meaning behind the EP title, Q: From Where Do Our Primal Instincts Originate A: MTV!?
It means nothing. It's a nod to Devo's album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! I'm pretty sure that's the full title.
Why is the answer MTV?
It’s just a nostalgic project. I know my whole artist project is, but this project is like a marathon of some sort, just like all the shit that I've been too afraid to pay homage to in terms of my sound. The project is fucking random. It's all over the place. The title reflects its randomness and the absurdity of it all.
Mae Kail.